The bauma is the leading trade show both in size and importance. Its Mining segment providing the top presentation and business platform for the mining industry – in Europe but also globally. Efficient technology for safe and environmentally-friendly mining and underground construction is on offer.

The Geo and Mining industries in Germany have a long tradition – and we are proud of this tradition. But the challenges during the past 50 years seem to have had a major input on the entire industry, influencing the industry more than in the centuries before. During the last two decades the manufacturing industries depending on mineral resources, their availability, their standard quality at affordable prices slowly discovered the advantages of having a direct access to the mineral resources required to keep their production running.

As coordinator for the NRW Energy Agency’s ­“Network Mining – Smart Mining Global”, I should like to arouse your interest in the products and services of our members. The bauma in April in Munich, Germany and the MINEexpo in Las Vegas, USA, in September offer outstanding opportunities for fostering contacts.

238 million tonnes of sand and gravel, but only 10 kg of gold represent the extreme values for recovering raw materials in Germany. More than 40 different raw materials are mined – largely unnoticed and their significance often escaping the population at large. A topical report issued by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and natural Resources shed light on more than a few surprises.

Geotechnical ground anchors were used for the first time in soil in1958. They have been constantly further developed in the course of time and have found their place in standards as a special foundation engineering system. Many significant structures could not have been accomplished or only with substantially more difficulty without ground anchors. However, subsequent construction measures have been hampered by zones secured by ground anchors primarily in urban areas. Removable anchor systems are available to avoid this occurring. The essential removable anchor systems available on the market are described and critically discussed. Subsequently, a fully removable strand anchor in the form of a compression typeanchor newly developed by Dywidag Systems International GmbH is presented and initial findings from practice are laid out.

Mechanized tunnelling represents a highly mechanized construction method with many factors of influence and inter-actions – in similar fashion to the stationary production of goods. The process can be optimized, errors avoided and documentation fulfilled by applying process controlling. Towards this end, external experts monitor tunnelling activities in real time and provide recommendations on how to react in the case of discrepancies. Cases of damage can be assessed and fundamental errors identified by means of follow-up analyses. This report provides pointers for data processing and interpretation of process data for mechanized tunnelling and for incorporating the process data in Building Information Modelling (BIM). Recognitions and findings from current major projects are explained.

In ore mines with large production capacities, the transformation from mining in huge open-pit facilities to underground deep mining poses great challenges to the mine operators and the sup­pliers of mining machinery. This applies especially for loading and materials handling. Starting with the loading and transport machines and methods applied in large open-pit facilities, the challenges and special characteristics for deep mining, important planning aspects and necessary further developments for an economic, safe and environmentally-friendly operation in large underground mines are examined. Reference is made to exploitable synergies between tunnelling and mining.

Often headings with small cross-sections must be driven in tunnelling and mining, for instance, for hydro power plants, evacuation tunnels, or a combination of jumbo, loading vehicle and dumper is frequently applied in conventional drill+blast drives in ore mining. In order to ensure that machines can pass through, the heading must be made wider or provided with additional passing bays. This results in substantial extra costs for the excavation as well as additional requirements in terms of time, personnel and mechanical equipment. This article presents an innovative highly efficient system, which executes several working phases with a single machine thus diminishing costs and outlay.

Drill+blast represents a conventional production technique to extract raw materials. Drillers are often prepared for their activities with virtual environments in company-owned training centres to determine optimal drilling points. A current research project is planning to extend and augment the idea of the virtual training centre for realistic conditions. To this end, the drill operator will visualize parameters from in situ measurements under real environmental conditions. The focus is on developing a so-called DARG (Drilling Operator’s Augmented Reality Glasses), a virtual reality pair of glasses, resistant to the rugged surrounding conditions underground. It is planned to use a hyperspectral camera as well as a terrestrial laser scanner (Lidar) for measuring purposes.

Legacy is a greenfield potash solution mine and production facility situated in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Commissioning is targeted for the summer of 2016 with the first tonne of potash at the end of the same year. Production will be ramped up throughout 2017 reaching the 2 million tonnes per annum mark by the end of the year. Yearly production capacity will gradually increase to 2.86 million tonnes by 2023. Total capital (CAPEX) investment for the project will be 4.1 billion CAD. Production will be based on solution mining of the three main potash members (Esterhazy, Belle Plaine and Patience Lake) occurring in the Prairie Evaporite Formation. The process works by pumping water or brine down a well into the target potash bed at a depth of approximately 1,500 m. The crude salt is dissolved from the deposit and the resultant brine is gathered in underground caverns. A second well, spaced approximately 80 m apart from the injection well, is applied to transport the potash-rich brine to the surface. Once pumped to the surface, the brine is converted into potash through an evaporation and crystallization process at the processing plant. The finished products are transported by rail either directly to the clients in North America or to Port Moody, British Columbia destined for clients in countries worldwide. K+S Potash Canada signed a long-term contract for rail transportation with Canadian Pacific Railway and a long-term contract with Pacific Coast Terminals Co. Ltd. for the construction and operation of the new storage and handling facilities at Port Moody, British Columbia.

The RWE Power AG has used the maintenance service provided by the Starrag Group for all of 20 years. For this purpose, Starrag Group has developed and planned tailor-made servicing and modernization of the drilling machines in the RWE Technology Centre. These drilling machines are used for maintaining the materials handling technology in the lignite opencast mines in the Rhenish coalfield.

Modern consulting and engineering calls for know-how and reliability as well as flexibility. This report provides an insight into current projects being tackled by the DMT Group. Based on a wide range of products and services, the internationally involved company focuses on tailor-made, economically viable and at the same time, sustainable solutions. Examples of projects indicate how the tradition-steeped company excels in solving problems posed by complex and sophisticated tasks.